"I know only Christ and Christ crucified"

I have only one Spouse on earth: Jesus forsaken.
I have no other God but him.
In him there is the whole of paradise with the Trinity
and the whole of the earth with humanity.
Therefore what is his is mine, and nothing else.
And his is universal suffering, and therefore mine
I will go through the world seeking it in every instant of my life
What hurts me is mine.
Mine the suffering that grazes me in the present.
Mine the suffering of the souls beside me (that is my Jesus).
Mine all that is not peace, not joy, not beautiful, not lovable, not serene,
in a word, what is not paradise.
Because I too have my paradise,
but it is the one in my Spouse's heart.
I know no other.
So it will be for the years I have left: a thirst for suffering,
anguish, despair, separation, exile, forsakenness, torment-
for all that is him, and he is sin, hell.
In this way
I will dry up the waters of tribulation
in many hearts nearby
and, through communion
with my almighty Spouse,
in many far away.
I shall pass as a fire
that consumes all that must fall
and leaves standing only the truth.
But it is necessary to be like him:
to be him in the present moment of life.

from the writings of Chiara Lubich